Sure, but it's pretty clear: In my humble opinion, there's a lot of talent in this town, but often this past season it was spread thinly among many many many productions. It was difficult (though not impossible) to point to any breakaway productions where everything gelled. Instead, it felt as if there were many individual steps forward, rather than collective leaps. That actor showed a new face, that designer worked differently in that space, or even down to a line reading. That sort of thing.

Man, what a lot of work, energy, and diversity in subjects, approaches, and genres. You could go to the theatre every weekend and still not see everything. (Which makes me feel a little less guilty about not seeing all my friends' plays.) Applause all around for all of you.

For lack of a better place to put this notice, Portland playwright Steve Patterson has started a Portland theatre discussion group on MySpace. Here are the details, copped from the Theatre Vertigo message board:

Portland, a mid-sized city with a vibrant arts community, has well over 100 theatres companies. This is a place for our producers, playwrights, actors, directors, techies, and audiences to come together to chat, kvetch, discuss projects, find collaborators, promote shows, and generall discuss the state of the art.

And the address: groups.myspace.com/portlandtheatre

Please check it out if the subject interests you, and, if you like what you see, invite like-minded friends.

"This is a place for our producers, playwrights, actors, directors, techies, and audiences to come together to chat, kvetch, discuss projects, find collaborators, promote shows, and generall discuss the state of the art."